Sarasota leaders approve March school referendum

Tuesday

Nov 14, 2017 at 2:18 PMNov 14, 2017 at 3:06 PM

The County Commission is required to give final approval to the much-debated referendum under state statute

Zach Murdock Staff Writer @zach_murdock

SARASOTA — A public vote on whether to extend a local option property tax for Sarasota County schools will be held in March, despite a last-minute question about whether the Sarasota County Commission could force the vote to be held in November 2018.

The County Commission is required by state law to approve the referendum sought by the school district, and ultimately did so on Tuesday.

But the approval came only after Commissioner Mike Moran questioned whether the County Commission had the authority to push the referendum to the November general election, echoing some opponents' concerns about the cost and lower turnout associated with a single-issue spring election.

"If this is an opportunity for me to vote moving to a standard election cycle to save the taxpayer money, I'm going to take the opportunity," Moran said before casting the lone vote against the March election date.

Scheduling the referendum for extending the property tax sparked a heated debate among Sarasota County School Board members this fall, pitting new and more conservative members against veteran and more moderate members.

Eric Robinson and Bridget Ziegler had argued for the next extension to last three years instead of the usual four in an effort to sync the next property tax extension vote with the general election cycle, largely because there is higher voter turnout in the fall and doing so would eliminate the cost of hosting a separate vote. In an unusual move, even the local legislative delegation weighed in on the fight to side with Robinson and Ziegler.

However, the School Board ultimately voted unanimously to support the four-year extension for the referendum question and therefore put its next extension vote on track for a March vote, too. The board could decide, later, to shift the date of the future referendum. School officials have said they can't delay the upcoming referendum until November without losing a year's worth of tax revenue.

Moran suggested the County Commission could act as a "check and balance" on that vote and decide to reschedule the election in November. He emphasized the board would not opine on whether to support the referendum itself, but instead just choose the date of the vote.

The commission does have the prerogative under state law to adjust the schedule of the election in its vote, but it's more to adjust the exact date "a day or two" to coordinate multiple elections for efficiency's sake, for example, said County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh.

The commission raised similar questions in 2013 about the timing of the 2014 vote to again renew the local option tax, which began in 2002, DeMarsh said. The commission later heard concerns from school district officials about the March timing being necessary to coincide with its spring and summer budgeting process and approved the March 2014 date, he said.

Moran noted the $350,000 cost of the upcoming special election for the State House District 72 seat recently vacated by Alex Miller. The commission approved that cost just a few minutes after the school referendum discussion, but it will be reimbursed by the state following the election.

Despite his suggestion, though, the majority of the commission supported the School Board's decision.

"Do I wish that elections would be on cycle? Absolutely for a lot of reasons; cost is one of them," said County Commission Chairman Paul Caragiulo. "It seems to me this is something they discussed at their board. They have their own reasons and values as to why they want to have an election in March as opposed to August or November.

"I, personally, would be very reluctant to get in the way of another governmental organization."

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